FIGS. 1A-1B illustrate a related-art two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR) transducer 1. Specifically, FIG. 1A illustrates a plan view of the related-art read transducer 1 and FIG. 1B illustrates a schematic view of the related-art two-dimensional read transducer 1. As illustrated, the related-art read transducer may include the two outer shields (15, 50), four mid-shields (20, 25, 55, 60), and three read sensors (80, 85, 90), each having two terminals for a total of six terminals (05, 10, 30, 35, 40, 45). The two outer shields include a first outer shield (S1) 15 and a second outer shields (S2) 50. The four mid-shields include a first mid-shield (MS1) 55, a second mid-shield (MS2) 20, a third mid-shield (MS3) 60, and a fourth mid-shield (MS4) 25.
The three read sensors (illustrated in FIG. 1B) include a first read sensor (R1) 80, a second read sensor (R2) 85, and a third read sensor (R3) 90. The first read sensor (R1) 80 includes a negative terminal (R1−) 05 and a positive terminal (R1+) 45. The second read sensor (R2) 85 also includes a negative terminal (R2−) 10 and a positive terminal (R2+) 35. Further, the third read sensor (R3) 90 includes a negative terminal (R3−) 30 and a positive terminal (R3+) 40.
By employing multiple sensor array designs, TDMR technology may enable multi-terabit density recording. In principle TDMR operation schemes may require the read sensor array structure of the TDMR transducer be longitudinally aligned along the cross track direction with little or no separation to allow different signals to be obtained at the same data track locations simultaneously during read back process. However, a TDMR transducer 1 may suffer a misalignment between adjacent sensor locations and the actual tracks of interests due to skew angle and radius conditions.
Providing smaller vertical separation between adjacent sensors may reduce a skew angle causing misalignment. However, this requires very thin insulating films to separate one reader's mid-shield from the next reader's mid-shield. Such thin insulating films may suffer from Electrical Overstress (EOS) or Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) during manufacturing. The chance of EOS or ESD increases as more read sensors are added between the first outer shield (S1) 15 and a second outer shields (S2) 50. Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving the manufacturing of a magnetic recording read transducer, particular for a TDMR.